Applications Open For 2019 South Carolina Palmetto Hands Juried Fine Craft Competition and Exhibition

Fine craft artists from across the state are invited to participate in the 18th annual South Carolina Palmetto Hands Juried Fine Craft Competition and Exhibition.  As the state’s longest-running fine craft competition and exhibition, objects juried into the show may compete for cash prizes totaling up to $6500. The exhibition is presented as a component of the annual North Charleston Arts Fest, to be held May 1-5, 2019. A $15 entry fee applies. Artists may submit up to four entries. The application is strictly available online and can be accessed at https://NorthCharlestonCulturalArtsDepartment.SlideRoom.com. Deadline for entries is Friday, March 15, 2019. Artists in need of assistance with the application process may contact the Cultural Arts Department to schedule a one-on-one meeting, which can be conducted over the phone or in person.

Organized and presented by the City of North Charleston Cultural Arts Department, this unique exhibition offers fine craft artists from across South Carolina the opportunity to exhibit their inspiring objects in the media of clay, fiber, glass, metal, wood, and three-dimensional mixed media.  Thousands have enjoyed the refined talents of South Carolina fine craft artists during past annual exhibitions. Following the close of the show, up to twenty works will be selected to tour the state through the South Carolina State Museum’s 2019/2020 Traveling Exhibitions Program. Sites across South Carolina may request the exhibit to tour in their facilities, thus providing additional exposure for the selected artists.

The juror for this year’s exhibition is Jim Arendt, Associate Professor of Visual Arts and Gallery Director at Coastal Carolina University. He received his BFA from Kendall College of Art & Design and his MFA from the University of South Carolina. He has participated in residency programs including The Fields Project in Illinois, Arrowmont’s Tactility Forum, and From Waste to Art VI in Baku, Azerbaijan. He’s been invited to teach at Penland School of Craft and Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts. His work is exhibited internationally in numerous group and solo shows. Recently, Arendt was short-listed for The 1858 Prize for Contemporary Southern Art and a 2018 finalist for the Elizabeth R. Raphael Founder’s Prize, Society for Contemporary Craft, Pittsburgh, PA. In 2014, he received the South Carolina Arts Commission Visual Artist Fellowship and his work received the top prize at ArtFields 2013. He has exhibited in Fiberarts International 2013 & 2016 & 2019, and the 2013 Museum Rijswijk Textile Biennial, Netherlands and has work include in the Arkansas Art Center’s permanent collection of contemporary craft. He has juried numerous local, regional, and national exhibitions in support of the arts across the country.

The 18th Annual South Carolina Palmetto Hands Juried Fine Craft Competition & Exhibition will be on display May 1-5, 2019, at the Charleston Area Convention Center, located at 5001 Coliseum Drive in North Charleston. A free public reception and announcement of awards will be held at the Convention Center on Wednesday, May 1, 2019, from 6:00pm-8:30pm. For more information about the North Charleston Arts Fest, Palmetto Hands, or other exhibition opportunities, contact the North Charleston Cultural Arts Department at (843)740-5854, email [email protected], or visit NorthCharlestonArtsFest.com.